Vertical lift conveyor

ABSTRACT

A vibratory vertical lift conveyor including a vertically elongated, tubular lift assembly having an inlet at its lower end and an outlet at its upper end. The assembly is provided with generally L-shaped projections extending from end to end within the interior of the assembly to provide for material lifting action when the assembly is vibrating in a vertical direction. Additionally provided is a yieldable connection between the vibrator and the lift assembly to accommodate startup of the conveyor; a mulling sphere within the tubular assembly received therein for limited movement between the projections to mull particulate material passing upward in the assembly; a backflow preventing device at the inlet to preclude backflow of material within the inlet when the vibratory conveyor is moving downwardly; and a manifold and inlet for a treating gas for treating material as it passes upwardly within the assembly.

United States. Patent 1191 Related Application Data Musschoot 1451 Nov.19, 1974 VERTICAL LIFT CONVEYOR 222,234 3/1968 U.S.S.R ..19s/22o [75]Inventor: Albert Musschoot, Barr1ngton,l11. Primary Examiner charles J.Myhre [73] Assignee: General Kinematics Corporation, AssistantExaminer-Paul Devinsky Barrington, 111. Attorney, Agent, orFirm-Hofgren, Wegner, Allen, [22 Filed: Feb.9, 1973 [21] App1.No.:331,331 [57] ABSTRACT A vibratory vertical lift conveyor including avertically [60] Division of Ser. No. 118,633, Feb. 25, 1971, which iselongated, tubular lift assembly having an inlet at its acontinuation-in-part of Ser. No. 843,531, July 22, lower end and anoutlet at its upper end. The assembly 1969, abandoned. is provided withgenerally L-shaped projections extending from end to end within theinterior of the as- [52] US. Cl. 34/164, 241/175 sembly to provide formaterial lifting action when the F261 B026 13020 21/00 assembly isvibrating in a vertical direction. Addition- 1 Fleld Search allyprovided is a yieldable connection between the 198/220 A, 220 41/175vibrator and the lift assembly to accommodate startup of the conveyor; amulling sphere within the tubular [56] References Cited assemblyreceived therein for limited movement be- U NITED STATES PATENTS tweenthe projections to mull particulate material 1 260 574 3/1918 Pogue417/241 Passing upward in the assembly; a backflcw Preventing 2:553:543/1951 .Bodine, Jr.... 417/241 device at the inlet to preclude backflowof material 3,421,591 1/1969 Webb 193/220 within the inlet when thevibratory conveyor is moving 3,710,453 1/1973 Whelpley 34/164downwardly; and a manifold and inlet for a treating FOREIGN PATENTS 0RAPPLICATIONS gas for treating material as it passes upwardly within theassembly. 3,113 /1891 Sweden 198/220 668,179 3/1952 Great Britain198/220 5 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures go/5 g; 1/ 6 w mi 1 1x2 \L 1; I

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PATENIwm/i 91974 SHEET 2 BF 2 1 VERTICAL LIFT CONVEYOR CROSS-REFERENCEThis application is a division of my copending application Ser. No.118,633, filed Feb. 25, 1971, entitled Vertical Lift Conveyor" andassigned to the same assignee as the instant application; which in turnwas a continuation-in-part of my copending application Ser.

No. 843,531, filed July 22, 1969, entitled Vertical Lift Conveyor, nowabandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In recent years, there has been increasingreliance upon vibratory conveyors for various conveyingpurposesprincipally because of their low energy requirements and therelatively few moving parts involved. Most such vibratory conveyors areutilized for conveying material in a generally horizontal direction anda few have been devised for generally vertical conveying SUMMARY OF THEINVENTION The invention seeks to provide a new and improved vibratory,vertical lift conveyor which includes a vertically elongated, tubularhousing having an inlet at its lower end and an outlet at its upper end.Extending from end to end within the housing and along at least aportion of the interior wall thereof are a plurality of adjacentL-shaped projections which have their long side uppermost and theirshort side lowermost. According to the exemplary embodiment, the anglebetween the long and short side of each L-shaped projection is about 90and each is arranged within the housing so that the short side is at anangle of about 60 with respect to thelongitudinal axis of the housing.

The housing is mounted on a vibrating base which, in turn, is secured bymeans of springs to a stationary base. The stationary base mounts arotary motor which drives an eccentric shaft. The eccentric shaft isconnected to the vibrating frame by means of a connecting rod and whenthe shaft is rotated, the vibrating base and thus the housing will bevibrating in a vertical di- .rection to provide up and down movementthereof.

The overall arrangement of the motor, the eccentric shaft and theconnecting rod is such that the downward motion of the lift assemblyincludes an acceleration greater than the acceleration due to gravity sothat the assembly will move downwardly more rapidly than the materialresulting in relative, motion between the casing and the material.

When the assembly is moved upwardly, particulate material therein iscompressed and the internal shear planes of material friction operate tomomentarily support the material during such upward movement.

The overall result is that the material is advanced upwardly within thehousing until it reaches the outlet where the same is discharged.

Also provided is a means associated with the inlet for precludingbackflow of the particulate material within the inlet during downwardmovement of the lift assembly. While such means may take on the fonn ofany suitable check valve assembly, according to the preferredembodiment, the same is comprised of a device configured in the form ofthe lift assembly but shorter in length and inverted so as to positivelydrive material into the lower end of the lift assembly.

In addition to pure conveying applications. the invention furthercontemplates that the conveyor may be used as a combination conveyor andprocessor. According to one embodiment of the invention, one or moremulling objects. normally in the form of cylinders, may be locatedwithin the lift assembly. The objects are of sufficiently great size sothey may not pass downwardly within the lift assembly past a given setof projections but of sufficiently small size so that some movement ofthe object within the lift assembly is permitted to provide a mullingaction on the material as it passes by the moving object. In addition,the material passing through the conveyor may be treated with a suitablegas if desired by the provision of gas inlet means on the lower side ofthe projection in communication with the manifold which may then beflexibly connected to a source of appropriate gas for the treatment.

Finally, the invention contemplates a unique connection between thevibrating means and the lift assembly to accommodate relative movementtherebetween during startup so that during startup the vibrating meansis not subject to extremely high loads due to the inertia of a fullyloaded lift assembly.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent fromthe following specification taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 4 is an enlarged, fragmentary sideelevation il- I lustrating certain details of a vibrating means.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT An exemplary embodiment of avibratory, vertical feeder made according to the invention is seen inFIGS. 1 and 2 and includes a lift assembly, generally designated 10,which, in turn, is comprised of a vibratory base 12 and a tubularhousing, generally designated I4.

The housing 14 includes an inlet 16 adjacent its lower end and an outlet18 adjacent its upper end. Within the tubular housing '14 and extendingfrom end to end thereof along opposite sides are lifts, generallydesignated 20, which define a scalloped configuration and which will beexplained in greater detail hereinafter.

The vibratory base 12 is located above a stationary base 22 andinterposed between the vibratory base 12 and the stationary base 22 area plurality of springs 24 which mount the vibratory base 12 to permitmovement relative to the stationary base 22'.

The stationary base 22 additionally mounts vibrating means, generallydesignated 26, which cause vibration of the lift assembly 10 relative tothe stationary base 22 opposed side walls 36 which are formed of thelifts 20.

Each lift is formed as a generally L-shaped, inwardly directedprojection in the interior of the housing 14 with the long side orsurface 38 thereof uppermost and the short side or surface thereoflowermost. The lower surface 40 converges toward the lowermost extent ofthe upper surface 38 which, in turn, diverges toward the lowermostextent of lower surface 40 of the upwardly adjacent projection.

According to one embodiment, the angle between the long side 38 and theshort side 40 of each lift 20 is 90 and the angle of the short side 40with respect to the longitudinal axis of the housing 14 is about 60.

The vibratory base 12 mounts the housing 14 on the 7 upper end thereofand to this end, the vibratory base 12 is formed of a plurality ofC-shaped channels 42 which are connected together byany suitable means.A bottom plate 44, which seals the bottom of the tubular housing 14 issecured to the upper flanges of the channels 42, by any suitable meansas well as the housing l4.'Two of the opposed channels 42 includealigned, enlarged apertures 45 interconnected by a pipe 46. Extendingthrough the apertures 45 and the center of the pipe 46 is a second,smaller pipe 47 which houses a threaded rod 48.

Impaled upon opposite ends of the rod 48 are clamping plates 49 whichabut the channels 42 having the apertures 45. Each of the clampingplates 49 includes an enlarged aperture 50 of approximately the samediameter as the apertures 45. Outwardly of the clamping plates 49 oneach end of the rod 48 are located rubber bumpers or donuts 52 providedwith enlarged apertures 53, again having approximately the same diameteras as the lift assembly is vibrating normally with the assistance of thesprings 24 in a resident condition.

Impaled upon opposite ends of the rod 48 are clamping plates 49 whichabut the channels 42 having the apertures 45. Outwardly of the clampingplates 49 on each end of the rod 48 are located rubber bumpers 56 forvibration isolation purposes which are then sandwiched between theplates 49 by the connecting rods 32. Nuts 58 serve to hold theassemblage in the just de scribed condition which results in a pivotalconnection of the connecting rods 32 to the vibrating base 12.

As seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, the stationary base 22 is also formed of aplurality of channels 60 and two of the opposed channels 60 mountupwardly projecting channel sections 62 having pillow block bearings 64in which the eccentric shaft 30 is disposed.

At one end of the eccentric shaft 30 there is mounted a double groovedsheave 66 which may be partially covered by a guard 68. As best seen inFIG. 4, a pair of V belts 70 extend from the sheave 66 to a sheave 72mounted on the output shaft 74 of a rotary motor 28.

Intermediate the pillow block bearing 64 are a pair of eccentricbearings 78 which are connected to the connecting rods 32. Eccentricsleeves 80 secured tothe shaft 30 for rotation therewith'are receivedwithin respective ones of the bearings 78 so that when the motor 28 isenergized to drive the shaft 30, the connecting rods 32 will bereciprocated.

Completing the vibratory conveyor are the springs 24 which, as mentionedpreviously, are interposed between the vibratory base 12 and thestationary base 22 to support the former above the latter for vibratorymotion in a vertical direction. Any suitable securing means such asbolts 84 (only one of which is shown) may be used to secure oppositeends of the springs 24 to aligned ones of the channels 42 and 60. v

Of course, the springs 24 mustbe chosen so that there will beresonantfrequency operation for vibration of the lift assembly when the motor 76is operated to cause vibration of the lift assembly and this may beaccomplished by techniques well known in the art. Furthe apertures 45.The rubber donuts 52 are then sandwiched between the plates 49 and theconnecting rods 32. Nuts 58 on the threaded rod 48 hold the assemblagein the just described condition which results in a flexible, pivotalconnection of the connecting rods 32 to the vibrating base 12.

As a result of the foregoing, a flexible connection is establishedbetween the vibrating means and the lift assembly that precludesoverloading of the vibrating in a resonant condition. However, with theconnection, the full vertical stroke of the lift assembly need not takeplace during startup as motion may be lost in the connection with theenergy absorbed by the rubber donuts 52'. Gradually the slippage willdiminish until such time thermore, it is necessary that the arrangementof the motor 76, the eccentric shaft 30 and the connecting rod 32 besuch that during the downward movement portion of each vibration cycle,the lift assembly 10 will be accelerated downwardly at a rate fasterthan acceleration due to gravity so that there will be relative movementbetween material 86 within the housing 14 and the housing 14.

The necessity for this relationship will be appreciated from thefollowing description of the operation which is made with reference toFIG. 3. The material 86 within the passageway defined by the walls 34and 36 will, when the lift assembly 10 is moved upwardly, exert a forceagainst the long sides 38 of the L-shaped projections 20 as indicated byarrows 88 and the internal shear planes of the material operate tomomentarily support the material during such upward movement. As aresult, the material 86 is advanced upwardly within the housing 14.

When the direction of movement of the lift assembly 10 is reversed andthe same moves downwardly, because the same will be accelerateddownwardly at a rate more rapidly than the material 86 will beaccelerated downwardly by gravity, a'certain portion of the material 86will remain substantially in the position to which it was moved duringthe upward portion of the cycle (a certain amount of settling will, ofcourse, occur but the ultimate result will be advancement of thematerial 86); and when the direction of movement of the lift assembly isagain reversed, further advancement of the material 86 will occur in themanner mentioned previously.

Of additional importance is the manner in which the lifts operate uponthe material 86. The configuration of the lifts 20 is such that the longsurface 36 forming each L-shaped projection comprising the lift 20'will, during upward movement of the assembly, tend to compress thematerial 86 so as to maximize the friction in the internal shear planesof the material. On the other hand, the construction is such that duringdownward movement of the lift assembly, such compression is releasedallowing the material to be subjected substantially only to theinfluence of gravity. The overall result may best be described as upwardmovement of the material in a differential manner.

Returning now to FIG. 2, other features of the invention will bedescribed. In particular, it will be recalled that means are preferablyprovided at the inlet 16 for preventing backflow of the material duringdownward movement of the lift assembly 10; According to the exemplaryembodiment, such means are included in a tubular inlet housing 100having an open upper end 102 into which the material to be conveyed maybe introduced. The housing 100 includes a lower end 104 in communicationwith the lower end of thelift assembly 10. Intermediate the ends 102 and104 of the housing 100 are a series of projections 106 configuredgenerally along-the lines of the projections employed in the liftassembly but inverted with regard thereto. That is, each of thevprojections 106 includes a short upper side 108 and a long lower side110.

The conveying action imparted to the material by the projections 106will be opposite that mentioned previously in conjunction with the liftassembly 10 so that the material will be positively fed from its pointof introduction at the opening 102 downwardly to the opening 104 atthebottom of the lift assembly 10 180 out of phase of the feeding of thematerial within the lift assembly 10. That is, when the lift assembly 10is moving downwardly, there will be positive feeding from the 'inlet 106to the bottom of the lift assembly 110 to occupy the space therein justvacated by the material within the lift assembly.

FIG. 2 also illustrates various modifications to the basic conveyorstructure to enable the same to perform a processing function as well asa conveying one if desired. For example, one or more spherical objects112 may be provided within the interior of the lift assembly 10 toprovide a mulling action on the material therein. As illustrated in FIG.2, the object 112 is in the form of a cylinder having a diametersufficiently large that it cannot pass downwardly between correspondingones of the projections but of sufficiently small size so that somemovement of the same is permitted within the space between adjacentprojections. Thefivibrating action imparted to the lift assembly 10 andthus to the object 112 will cause the same to oscillate within the spaceto provide a mulling or grinding action on the materials being conveyed.

Also illustrated in FIG. 2 is structure for gas treating the materialwithin the lift assembly 10 as it is being passed upwardly therein. Inparticular, certain of the lower surfaces of the projections areprovided with a plurality of apertures 114 to establish fluidcommunication between the interior of the lift assembly I0 and theexterior thereof. Surrounding the apertured ones of the lower surfaces40 is a manifold 116 having an inlet 118 and an outlet 120 which may besuitably connected by flexible hose or the like to a source of anappropriate gas to be utilized in treating the material and to anexhausting or recycling system, Thus. a suitable treating gas may beintroduced into the interior of the lift assembly 10 to treat thematerial therein through the inlet conduit 118, the manifold 116 and theapertures [I4 and exhausted, if desired, through the outlet 120.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that the invention provides aunique, vertically oriented vibratory lift conveyor ideally suited forpure conveying operations as well as combined conveying and processingoperations.

Having described a preferred embodiment of my invention as required by35 U.S.C. l 12, I do not wish to be limited to the details set forth.but rather. to have my invention construed broadly according to thefollowing claims.

I claim:

1. A lift conveyor of the vibratory type including a stationary base, atubular non-horizontally elongated lift assembly having an inlet at itslower end and an outlet at its upper end, said lift assembly including aplurality of opposed, horizontally aligned, inwardly directedprojections extending between said ends with each projection beingdefined by an upper surface and a lower surface with the upper surfacehaving a longer length than the lower surface, vibrating meansassociated with said lift assembly for moving said lift assembly up anddown in a non-horizontal direction, and operative to accelerate saidlift assembly in a downward direction at a rate greater than the rate ofacceleration of gravity; means associated with said inlet for precludingbackflow of material during movement of said lift assembly in a downwarddirection; and a mulling device within said lift assembly, said mullingdevice comprising an object sufficiently large so as to be engaged bysaid projections to preclude downward movement of the object therepastand sufficiently small so as to be movable above the projections that itmay engage whereby during vibration of said lift assembly, movement ofsaid object therein provides mulling action on material passing throughsaid lift assembly.

2. A lift conveyor of the vibratory type including a stationary base, atubular non-horizontally elongated lift assembly having an inlet at itslower end and an outlet at its upper end, said lift assembly including aplurality of opposed, horizontally aligned, inwardly directedprojections extending between said ends with each projection beingdefined by an upper surface and a lower surface with the upper surfacehaving a longer length than the lower surface; vibrating meansassociated with said lift assembly for moving said lift assembly up anddown in a non-horizontal direction, and operative to accelerate saidlift assembly in a downward direction at a rate greater than the rate ofacceleration of gravity; means associated with said inlet for precludingbackflow of material during movement of said lift assembly in a downwarddirection; gas inlet means in the lower surfaces of at least some ofsaid projections, a gas manifold at least partially surrounding saidlift assembly and in fluid communication with said gas inlet means, and

means for conducting a treating gas to said gas manifold wherebymaterial in said lift assembly may be treated by gas flowing from saidmanifold to said inlet means into said lift assembly during upwardmovement of the material in said lift assembly.

3. A lift Conveyor of the vibratory type including a stationary base, atubular non-horizontally elongated lift assembly having an inlet at itslower end and an outlet at its upper end, said lift assembly including aplurality of opposed, horizontally aligned, inwardly directedprojections extending between said ends with each projection beingdefined by an upper surface and a lower surface with the upper surfacehaving a longer length than the lower surface; vibrating meansassociated with said lift assembly for moving said lift assembly up anddown in a non-horizontal direction, and operative to accelerate saidlift assembly in a downward direction at a rate greater than the rate ofacceleration of gravity;

means associated with said inlet for precluding backflow of materialduring movement of said lift assembly in a downward direction; and workperforming means on said lift assembly for treating materialconveyedthereon.

4. A lift conveyor according to claim 3 wherein said work performingmeans comprises a mulling object sufficiently large so as to be engagedby said projections to preclude downward movement of the objecttherepast and sufficiently small so as to be movable relative to theprojections that it may engage.

5. A lift conveyor according to claim 3 wherein said work performingmeans includes a gas manifold surrounding said lift assembly and gasinlet means in fluid communication with said manifold and the interiorof said lift assembly for directing gas to the interior ofsaid liftassembly.

1. A lift conveyor of the vibratory type including a stationary base, atubular non-horizontally elongated lift assembly having an inlet at itslower end and an outlet at its upper end, said lift assembly including aplurality of opposed, horizontally aligned, inwardly directedprojections extending between said ends with each projection beingdefined by an upper surface and a lower surface with the upper surfacehaving a longer length thaN the lower surface, vibrating meansassociated with said lift assembly for moving said lift assembly up anddown in a nonhorizontal direction, and operative to accelerate said liftassembly in a downward direction at a rate greater than the rate ofacceleration of gravity; means associated with said inlet for precludingbackflow of material during movement of said lift assembly in a downwarddirection; and a mulling device within said lift assembly, said mullingdevice comprising an object sufficiently large so as to be engaged bysaid projections to preclude downward movement of the object therepastand sufficiently small so as to be movable above the projections that itmay engage whereby during vibration of said lift assembly, movement ofsaid object therein provides mulling action on material passing throughsaid lift assembly.
 2. A lift conveyor of the vibratory type including astationary base, a tubular non-horizontally elongated lift assemblyhaving an inlet at its lower end and an outlet at its upper end, saidlift assembly including a plurality of opposed, horizontally aligned,inwardly directed projections extending between said ends with eachprojection being defined by an upper surface and a lower surface withthe upper surface having a longer length than the lower surface;vibrating means associated with said lift assembly for moving said liftassembly up and down in a non-horizontal direction, and operative toaccelerate said lift assembly in a downward direction at a rate greaterthan the rate of acceleration of gravity; means associated with saidinlet for precluding backflow of material during movement of said liftassembly in a downward direction; gas inlet means in the lower surfacesof at least some of said projections, a gas manifold at least partiallysurrounding said lift assembly and in fluid communication with said gasinlet means, and means for conducting a treating gas to said gasmanifold whereby material in said lift assembly may be treated by gasflowing from said manifold to said inlet means into said lift assemblyduring upward movement of the material in said lift assembly.
 3. A liftconveyor of the vibratory type including a stationary base, a tubularnon-horizontally elongated lift assembly having an inlet at its lowerend and an outlet at its upper end, said lift assembly including aplurality of opposed, horizontally aligned, inwardly directedprojections extending between said ends with each projection beingdefined by an upper surface and a lower surface with the upper surfacehaving a longer length than the lower surface; vibrating meansassociated with said lift assembly for moving said lift assembly up anddown in a non-horizontal direction, and operative to accelerate saidlift assembly in a downward direction at a rate greater than the rate ofacceleration of gravity; means associated with said inlet for precludingbackflow of material during movement of said lift assembly in a downwarddirection; and work performing means on said lift assembly for treatingmaterial conveyed thereon.
 4. A lift conveyor according to claim 3wherein said work performing means comprises a mulling objectsufficiently large so as to be engaged by said projections to precludedownward movement of the object therepast and sufficiently small so asto be movable relative to the projections that it may engage.
 5. A liftconveyor according to claim 3 wherein said work performing meansincludes a gas manifold surrounding said lift assembly and gas inletmeans in fluid communication with said manifold and the interior of saidlift assembly for directing gas to the interior of said lift assembly.